The present invention relates to a method for treating cellulosic fiber-containing textiles with an organosilicon composition and to the textiles obtained therefrom.
More specifically, the present invention relates to a method for providing durable press characteristics for cellulosic fiber-containing textiles by treating said textiles with a formaldehyde-free composition comprising methoxylated, phenyl-substituted organosilicon polymers.
Durable press textile finishes are commonly provided by treating the textile with prepolymers of urea-formaldehyde, melamine-formaldehyde, dimethylolethylene-urea, and a wide variety of other resin systems.
These resin prepolymers are dissolved in water to provide a treatment bath. The textiles are impregnated with the treatment bath solution, padded, i.e. squeezed to remove excess solution, and then either pressed as sheet fabric, thereby providing a fixed, crease-resistant surface, or formed into sewn articles, such as garments, and subsequently pressed.
Heat from the pressing operation is thought to crosslink the impregnating prepolymers to a hard resin.
Thus, areas of the fabric that are desired to stay flat and smooth are fixed to some degree through the crosslinking of the impregnating resin, and areas of the fabric that are desired to retain a crease are fixed, to some degree, by pressing in the crease.
Organosilicon polymers have been added to the resin solution treatment bath to provide improved hand, tear strength, and abrasion resistance, as taught by Rooks in U.S. Pat. No. 4,167,501. This method comprises the addition of an emulsion of a hydroxy-endblocked polydimethylsiloxane, along with crosslinkers, surfactants, and catalysts well known in the art.
However, these methods, which employ formaldehyde-based resins, are not completely satisfactory because formaldehyde-based resins can contain small amounts of free formaldehyde, or release small amounts of free formaldehyde as a byproduct during cure. Free formaldehyde is thought to constitute a health hazard. For this reason, formaldehyde-free textile treating compositions have been sought.
Worth, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,269,603, discussed the use of reactive silicone with formaldehyde-free glyoxal-based durable press treatment. In testing the reactive silicone by itself, however, he found it ineffective as a durable press treatment.
Another problem often encountered in textile treatment resins containing residual nitrogen compounds or groups is reaction with chlorine bleaching compounds, and consequent diminution of the fabric's strength.
Organosilicon polymers per se as durable press finishes have been the subject of investigation. Polyorganosiloxanediols are reported by Hosokawa et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 3,668,001 to give improved touch, i.e. hand, and crease resistance. These polymers are described by the inventors as being silicone rubber, and as having a relative viscosity in toluene at 25.degree. C. of 1.8, a relative viscosity characteristic of a high polymer. A substantial degree of water resistance is imparted by these high polymers.
Deiner, in West German O.L.S. No. 2,922,376 discloses a method for preparing alkoxylation products of a polysiloxane containing silane, i.e. .tbd.SiH, groups. The alkoxylation is performed with alcohols having from 4 to 22 carbon atoms. The product of this alkoxylation is disclosed as an effective textile treatment. However, organosilicon compounds containing alkoxy radicals having more than 1 or 2, and certainly more than 3 carbon atoms, are not as desirable from a cost and efficiency-of-cure aspect as are methoxy-containing organosilicon compounds.